UK goes barking over dog friendly venues

The demand for dog friendly venues and businesses is soaring,
with a record breaking 12,000 votes cast in this year's Be Dog
Friendly Awards, a campaign run by the Kennel Club and www.dogfriendly.co.uk, to
encourage businesses to open their doors to dogs.

The overall winner of the competition, with a staggering 40.5% of
the votes, placing it firmly in the position of the UK's
friendliest organisation, was Eurotunnel Le Shuttle. With 71% of
pets entering the UK via the Eurotunnel, it is an organisation that
understands the value of welcoming dogs and not only caters to the
millions of dog owners in the UK, but those coming from overseas
too.

Furthermore Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is the only cross-channel
service that allows dogs and their owners to stay together
throughout the entire journey. More than 200,000 pets on the Pet
Travel Scheme travelled with Eurotunnel Le Shuttle last year, 93
per cent of them being dogs. This is the fourth year in a row
that Eurotunnel Le Shuttle have won an award as part of the Dog
Friendly Awards, for their dedication to man's best friend.

Deborah Elliott, Senior Product Manager said: "Being dog friendly
is hugely important to us at Eurotunnel Le Shuttle and we are
delighted to see that it is important to our customers too, who not
only keep choosing us as their preferred mode of travel to Europe,
in fact 97 per cent have said they will recommend us to friends and
family and they also keep voting for us in the Be Dog Friendly
Awards in their thousands.

"Businesses who are not dog friendly are missing out, our
customers keep returning to us as they are confident that they can
travel with their four legged friends with convenience, ease and
excellent dedicated staff and facilities. With around 9 million
dogs in the UK, we have a huge number of dog owners we are offering
a service to that other businesses don't.

Eurotunnel won the large organisation category, beating
contemporary fashion brand Oasis who joined the campaign for the
first time this year as they welcomed dogs in their stores for the
campaign 'Love My Denim, Love My Dog.' However, Oasis managed to
secure a solid second place in the large organisation category and
came in third in the competition overall.

Briony Garbett, Oasis Director of Digital, comments: "We have
always had an affinity and fondness for our four legged friends at
Oasis - featuring them not only in campaigns but also in denim-form
in our stores for several years. We are thrilled to have been
recognised for our 'Love My Denim, Love My Dog campaign'."

The winners of each category were as follows:

Beach: Holkham, Norfolk

Café/Restaurant: Beach Cafe, Norfolk

Camping/Caravanning: Blue Hills, Cornwall

Days Out: Cotswold Wildlife Park, Oxfordshire

Great Outdoors: Lake District

High Street: Austin & Co, Worcestershire

Hotel/Place to Stay: The Old Cider House, Somerset

Large Organisation: Eurotunnel

Pub: Spice Ship, Dorset

Town: Keswick, Cumbria

The national recognition could prove a welcome boost to the
local economy as research from the Kennel Club revealed that 72 per
cent of dog owners said that they would take more holidays in the
UK if they could find places that had a dog friendly attitude[1].

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary said: "We were overwhelmed
by the number of votes this year for the Be Dog Friendly Awards,
which just goes to show the huge appetite there is in the UK for
dog friendly places people and their four-legged friends can
visit.

"We are delighted that Eurotunnel has been recognised for the
fantastic experience offered to guests. The winners of these awards
are determined by the public and all of this year's winners are
wonderful examples of the many businesses and public places that
have already adopted a dog-friendly policy and are reaping the
benefits of welcoming dogs."

The winners of the Be Dog Friendly Awards were presented with
their awards at the Kennel Club's Eukanuba Discover Dogs event at
ExCeL London on Sunday 18th October.

To find out about dog friendly organisations visit the UK's
largest dog friendly accommodation, pubs, beaches and days out
www.dogfriendly.co.uk.